You Have That Effect on Me
by ReidsFanGirl18
Summary: Spencer Reid is about to embark on a journey that, for him, is more daunting than any case, and more frightening than any Unsub... He's about to propose to the only woman he's ever truly loved. But between asking her father for her hand, picking out an engagement ring, and... *gulp* popping the question to Maeve herself, this genius is definitely in uncharted territory
1. The Ring

Spencer Reid was in the one place he never thought he'd be, preparing for a day which, just two years previously, he never would have imagined would come. He was wandering a jewelry store, looking for the perfect ring with which to propose to Maeve. Just one problem…he had absolutely no idea where to start. For all his knowledge of academic subjects, when it came to romance, he still often felt like a blind bull in a china shop… What was he supposed to be looking for in a ring? What would she like and how would he recognize it when he saw it?

When he looked around the store, he saw several couples picking out engagement rings together, which would certainly would have removed the uncertainty and painful guesswork out of the equation… But Spencer wasn't just a technophobe, he was a die-hard traditionalist when it came to romance as well. As of yet, Maeve had no idea just how close he really was to proposing to her. That was because he was going for the classic, surprise her and get down on one knee approach. It was old school, and daring…but it was how he wanted it to be. So there he stood, searching for the perfect ring…

He'd been there for hours and was about to give up for the day…but then he saw it… the ideal ring, the one he'd spent hours searching for without knowing what he was looking for until he saw it. It was a beautiful, flawless, white-gold band made of two narrow bands weaving in and out of each other which came meet in a setting shaped like rose petals. In the center of the floral design sat a 2.5 carat diamond, and there were smaller diamonds inlaid in the setting and band. He couldn't explain it, but somehow this ring seemed to be screaming Maeve's name.

He stared at it for a while before he saw a saleswoman with long, straight, brown hair, and large, stormy gray eyes, walk by.

"Excuse me…what is this ring called?" he asked.

"Oh that one, that one is called Ever Blooming Love…" she replied.

Even the ring's title was perfect.

"Would you like me to take it out of the case so you can have a closer look?" She asked.

It was all he could do to nod.

She walked behind the glass case and took out the ring. Reid picked it up in the little ring box and examined it more closely.

"Wow…it was nice in the case, but it's even more beautiful up close…"

"Yes it is, unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you want to look at it, this design is being phased out, no more will be made and or ordered outside of the custom market, on the bright side though, that also means that all the ones we have left are half price… so if you're interested, now is the time…"

"I'll take it…" He said.

"Ok Sir, that'll come to four-thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars…"

_Darn it… that's more than I brought with me… _he thought to himself, he didn't use a credit card, ever. He didn't even have one, and he had his wallet with him of course, but he'd left his checkbook back at his apartment. Clearly this whole thing had his thinking more muddled than he'd thought. Normally he would've done his research and estimated a fairly accurate ballpark of how much this was going to cost.

"Um…how long can you hold it for…?"

"We can hold it up to a week…."

"I'll be back within the hour…" he said flatly, then without another word, he scurried out of the store and caught a cab to the bank. Once there he withdrew four grand from a special account he'd been squirreling away money into for the past year, his "propose to the girl of my dreams fund" as he secretly called it.

Then he got into another cab and rushed back to the jewelry store to buy the ring.

"Would you like this is white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, or silver?"

"It-it's perfect just the way it is…" he said, the gravity of what he was about to do putting him more and more on edge with every second that ticked by.

"You have good taste, whoever this ring his meant for… she's a lucky woman…"

Reid smiled and placed the ring box carefully in the inside breast pocket of the jacket he was wearing before turning to leave.

When he got home he grabbed the first book Maeve had given him, _The Narrative of John Smith_ off his giant bookshelf. Inside of it, he'd hidden a checklist for his plans to propose to Maeve. He had the ring, now he just needed to find the best spot in all of DC at which to present her with it…


	2. Stealing Cinderella

Then it occurred to Reid that something very, very important hadn't made the list. He'd neglected to ask Maeve's father for permission to propose… That probably had more than a little to do with the fact that, although he knew that he had to if he was going to go about this the right way, and despite the fact that both of Maeve's parents seemed to really, really like him… Nothing, scared him more than Joe Donovan saying "no". If Maeve said no when he actually proposed, that was one thing… (and in all honesty he doubted she would). But if her father said no… then Reid would feel as if he'd been taken to prison. His hands would be tied… he loved Maeve more than anything, more than his own life… but that was precisely why he wanted to do this the right way. He wanted to do this so that he wouldn't be the cause of any family rifts… he knew that Maeve would be more than willing to go ahead with it, with or without her father's blessing, but Spencer also knew that she loved her parents enough that it would hurt her to do so, and he wouldn't feel right causing the love of his life that kind of pain.

He picked up his house phone and dialed the number for Maeve's parents' house. It rang once, twice, three…four times… each ring, each second, passing for Reid like an agonizingly long hour… Before finally, he answered…

"M-Mr. Donovan…?" He asked, trying not to sound anywhere near as nervous as he actually was.

"Spencer…? That you?"

"Yes Sir…" Reid replied.

"I thought I told you before, drop the formality… call be Joe…"

"Ok…um Joe… you and I need to talk…privately…"

"This about my Maeve?"

"Yes…"

"Meet me behind the humanities building at Georgetown in an hour…"

"I'll be there." He hung up and slumped back into his recliner. He knew what Joe was thinking… he was a smart man, he most likely had at least some inclination of what this was about… and by picking the time and place, he'd established his dominance… this was happening on his turf and he was calling the shots.

Reid got to his feet and went into the kitchen, he felt like he was about to throw up… he had to do this right… but this was one part of this process that although he knew had to be done, he hadn't researched or prepared for at all…

Unable to focus, but not wanting to leave to early, he simply paced the length of his apartment for a while until he could leave.

When he got there he found Joe Donovan waiting, standing on a bridge over-looking a stream that ran through a small wooded area behind the building. He seemed to be deep in thought.

Reid walked toward him, even as he stepped onto the bridge, Joe seemed oblivious to his presence.

"Joe?"

The older man almost literally jumped.

"Oh…Spencer… Good to see you again…"

"You too… um sir…I…uh…"

"I know what this is about…"

"You do…?"

"You two have been together a year and a half now…counting those first ten months she was in hiding, since then and…really even before that… I could tell that you two were perfect for each other…it's not hard to see the writing on the wall…"

"I love her…"

"I know you do… which is why this doesn't come as much of a surprise…" He sighed, then continued. "You know…some guys don't even bother with this part anymore… who cares what the parents think, and besides…it's nerve wracking right? I remember when I asked Mary's dad… God…the old man scared me half to death… I thought he'd murder me, or worse…say no… plus I can see you shaking… This ain't easy… I get that… and I appreciate that you love her enough to show the respect to come here…"

"Mr. Donovan…Joe… Maeve means more to me than anything else in the world, I want to spend the rest of my life with her…and if she feels the same way… well then I'm the luckiest man on the planet…but I need the chance to find that out for myself…"

"I know… this ain't easy for me either you know… what you're asking… I know it's right… I know that you're her other half and it's damn well time I stopped getting in the way of that. But you have to understand…and maybe you don't…yet… she's my little girl…and saying yes… means that I finally have to admit that she's not my little girl anymore…Daddy's little princess grew up, and pretty soon she'll be gone…"

"I think I can gather that much…"

"But that's not the point… the point is that she's not my little girl anymore… and we both love her… so yes…yes please… go make her happy… just know that if you hurt her…well your friends will never know what happened to you…"


	3. Plotting in Progress

Reset…now he was ready to actually propose, he just needed to figure out how, when, and where…the problem was that it was Sunday… which meant that he likely would be going out of town. So it would probably have to wait until next Sunday, Soon a plan started to form in Spencer's head…one that began with dinner at Little Serow and ended with a proposal inside Mendel University's chemistry lab… It was perfect… So he called Maeve and set the reservation for eight o'clock the following Sunday.

Maeve thought this was just going to be a regular dinner date, but she was wrong. Hm… what else…? Flowers? Reid called the local florist he'd used to send flowers when he'd thought he might miss their anniversary on an away case and ordered Maeve's favorite flowers. He had everything ready, now all he could do was wait

Reid went to work the following day, jumpy and on edge, this was made much worse by the fact that this was one of those rare, slow, weeks, where there was no new case…and they were stuck doing paperwork… Desperate to keep his plans under wraps, so that Maeve would be the first person who knew, he tried to act completely normal. But he was subdued, quiet, withdrawn, and the rest of the team couldn't help but notice this change in his personality. But it wasn't until Thursday that any of them decided to say anything.

"Reid…" Morgan came up to him and said while they were both getting coffee.

"Yeah…?" He asked.

"What's going on with you…?"

"What? Nothing's going on with me, w-why would you think something was going on with me?" Reid replied too quickly.

"Well for one you've been way to quiet and jumpy the last few days and secondly, that right there, what you just did… that's your tell…"

"What? Since when?"

"As long as I've known you, so at least twelve years now…."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Reid…be real with me here…what's going on?"

"Nothing."

"What did you fight with Maeve or something?"

"What? No!"

"Then what?"

"I don't want to talk about it…"

"It…so there is something wrong?"

"No…Going on, yes, wrong no…"

"Well what is it? Come on Kid, you're killin me here…"

"Morgan. I don't want to talk about it. I can't believe you figured out there was anything going on…"

Suddenly Rossi came up behind them.

"And I would have thought a profiler would cover better than that…especially when the other profilers are all bored out of our minds." He said.

"Guys…" he said, giving them a look which said clearly not to press the issue any further. After that they dropped it…

Meanwhile, Maeve had also noticed that Reid was acting strangely.

"I don't understand…" Maeve blurted out while she was organizing files.

"What don't you understand?" Asked her friend Megan, who was there to pick up her own stack of records.

"Spencer…"

"Well he's a man, so that's kind of par for the course isn't it?"

"Not that…he's being weird…"

"Again…he's a man…and a strange one at that…"

"Megan…"

"What…? You never know Maeve… He could be planning something…big…"

"Like what? Our anniversary is past…Valentines Day is passed… and it's his birthday coming up, not mine…what else could there be?"


	4. Come on Over Tonight

When Sunday night finally came, Spencer was once again, pacing the length of his apartment. It was only 6… the ring was on the kitchen table, it its box… and there it would sit for another ninety minutes, until it was time to leave. His palms were sweating, and his mind was racing trying to work out what to wear and what to say. How tonight was going to go would determine the rest of their lives. It was more than a little pressure…

It was the end of September but it was already below freezing when the sun went down… so he was glad he'd made proposing in front of the Washington Monument plan B… it wasn't going to work. Then there was the question of how to bring it up… how to give her the ring… Should he hide it somewhere in the lab? Pull a little sleight of hand…? Or stick to the plan and go for the straightforward, down on one knee approach…? When he got there…when his moment came…what did he say…?

Realizing that if he kept psyching himself out it was even more likely to forget something important or screw up some other way, he decided to start getting ready and hopefully, in the process, calm himself down.

It was in the shower, letting the near scalding, hot water stream over his head and back, that his mind finally cleared and chaos turned to order. He got out, laid out his three piece nineteenth-century suit and trench coat on his bed, combed his hair, shaved again, and got dressed.

An hour and fifteen minutes later…

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this…" Rossi said, looking through a pair of binoculars from behind a bush outside of Reid's apartment building.

Morgan was sitting next to him, but he didn't seem to be listening. Instead he was watching intently, for any movement coming from the third floor.

"Rossi something has definitely been up with the kid all week…and today was the jumpiest I've ever seen him…I haven't seen him act anything like that since his almost first date with Maeve…"

"Yeah…that much is pretty obvious but whatever happened to our moratorium on profiling our own teammates…?"

"So you're not curious at all about what's going on in there?" Morgan asked.

"No. Because I already figured it out… and it's really none of our business until Reid decides to tell us…"

"Care to fill me in?" Morgan asked.

"Think about it Derek… he's been wearing suit coats all week… granted winter came early, but still that's unusual for him… and he's been guarding something, something he's keeping in his left inside pocket…"

"I'm not following…"

"My guess is that it's an engagement ring…he's going to propose to Maeve… and if I'm right, whatever he's got planned, happens tonight."

"You're serious?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" Rossi said, giving him a hard look.

"How do you know that's what's going on here…?" he asked.

"Because I acted the same way right before I was going to propose to Caroline… I was nervous, jumpy as all hell… and my own teammates sure noticed…just like we're noticing now…"

Suddenly Morgan saw all the lights go off in Reid's apartment.

"Wait a second Rossi, hold up… I think he's on the move…"

"Yeah, probably to go get Maeve, what are you going to do? Follow them the entire night?"

"Maybe…if you're right, and I'm thinking you are…we gotta make sure nothing goes wrong…"

"Morgan, did it ever occur to you that we might be the reason something would go wrong?"

"How do you mean?"

"You know how Reid is… what happens if he sees us and our presence throws him off his game? Or worse…"

"Worse…?"

"Think about it…less than a year ago, Maeve was hiding from a suicidal crazy person out to kill her and anyone who tried to protect her… then she's out with her boyfriend and on the very same night he's going to propose, two of the friends that he works with are following them… if I were her I'd find that more than a little unsettling…"

"Maybe you're right…"

"I am right…"

"We're still gonna tail him, we're just going to be less creepy about it…"

"How so…?"

"I had Garcia try to figure out where Reid was going tonight… he made dinner reservations for two at Little Searow… they also have a bar in there, it's perfect because we get a clear view of every table in the place but if the dining area is as crowded as it usually is… they won't be able to see us…"

While they were talking they saw Reid get in his car and drive away.

"How do you feel about getting some drinks Rossi?"

"Fine…I'll come… but unlike you I'm not there to spy… I'm going to make sure you don't do something really stupid…"


	5. One Night Over Thai Food

Meanwhile, Maeve was making some preparations of her own. She still didn't know what Spencer had in mind… but something told her that tonight was special.

When Reid was finally at Maeve's door. He was hiding the flowers he'd ordered behind his back. He rang the doorbell and waited for her to answer.

"Coming!" she said. Before opening the door.

"Hi Maeve…" He said. He stepped back as she stepped out onto the front steps.

"Spencer you look…positively dashing"

"And you're more beautiful tonight than anything I've ever seen… even more beautiful than…these…." He said, giving her the flowers.

"Spencer…oh my god! They're beautiful!"

"Still nowhere near as beautiful as you…"

She hugged him tightly.

"You are biased you know…"

"It's not an opinion…it's a fact…"

She squeezed a little tighter.

"I don't know what's going on tonight…but something…hopefully something good…"

"We shall see…"

"Ok, now you're just being weird… Spencer what's going on…?"

"No… It's a surprise…I'm not ruining it…" he said.

"Oh alright…"

"Now can we please get to the restaurant before they give our table away?"

"Ok…let's go…."

They got in his car, determined to be an impeccable gentleman, well, even more so than usual…he made sure to open the door for her.

When they got to Little Searow and sat down… they ordered a single double order of yum het khai khem, their favorite dish.

The room was a small and dark basement, lit only but the candles in mason jars that served as the centerpiece for each small, round oak table. It didn't seem like much, but it was the best place in the city for authentic Thai food.

"So…what are we going to do after dinner?"

"That's part of the surprise…"

"Spencer…you're killing me here…"

"Maeve…it's a surprise…"

"You know I don't like surprises…"

"Well you should like this one…"

"Give me a hint…"

"No…you'll just have to wait and see…"

"I have been wracking my brain trying to figure it out all week…"

Meanwhile in the bar area, Morgan and Rossi were sitting at the bar, pretending to hang out, while Morgan continued his surveillance of Maeve and Reid and Rossi, determined to stop Morgan from ruining everything, supervised the operation. The two of them had worn simple disguises so that, even if Reid did see them from across the way, he was unlikely to recognize them. Morgan was wearing a fedora and Rossi had on a fake beard from the party store they had passed on their way. The need to obtain the beard, had been the only thing that had stopped Morgan from outright following the couple to their destination. At the moment it was Rossi, who's appearance was less recognizable, scanning the room, while Morgan ordered a bear he had no intention of drinking in order to keep up appearances.

"What are they doing…?" Morgan asked.

"Talking…sharing a meal…looks like a normal dinner date to me…"

"Has he given any indication yet?"

"Not yet…he definitely has the ring with him but Maeve's not likely to recognize the evidence of that… and right now his body language is too calm… he's building up to it but the moment isn't here yet…"

"What about Maeve…?"

"She definitely knows something's up… but it's obvious she doesn't know what… her body language is a mix of affection and happy curiosity…"

"But they're here…"

"This may not be the final destination… Reid's ramping up to something… maybe he's got a secondary location in mind…"

"You're talking like he's an unsub or something…"

"You're the one who insisted on treating him like one…"

"I just don't wanna see him get heart-broken…"

"Maeve's head over heels for him…she's not saying no…"

"You don't know that Rossi… after all Garcia was head over heels in love with Kevin and she told him no…"

"Maeve is the marrying type… Garcia isn't…"

"There's that…"

When, at the end of the meal, Maeve got up and left the table to use the ladies room, likely to primp nervously, as she often did unnecessarily, Reid got up also for the same reason…

He tried to stop the one side of his long brown hair from sticking out to the side and fix his crooked tie…neither of which actually worked.

He reached in and took out the burgundy, velvet ring box, out of his pocket, opened it…and gazed down at the ring. He pictured how it would look on her long, delicate finger…just beautiful… The night had come, the moment was almost here… and he still didn't know what to say…

_Just say something, _he thought to himself… _Whatever you do…don't wimp out, not tonight. _

When he headed back to the table, he wasn't watching where he was going and he ran right into Rossi. The fake beard would have obscured his identity from anyone outside of the team, and even the rest of the team from afar… but this close up… Reid knew almost instantly who it was…

"Rossi?"

"Hi Reid…"

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Just enjoying the Thai food and good bear…"

"Then what's with the beard…"

"Would you believe I'm practicing for Halloween…?"

"Two weeks from now maybe…this early? I think not. Plus there's the fact that you hate Halloween… What are you really doing here…?"

"Long story…I'll tell ya later… you look like you saw a ghost back there… something going on…?"

"Nope…just uh…having dinner…have a nice night Rossi." Reid said.

"You too…"

Then, when Reid moved to push past Rossi and the ring box fell out.

Rossi picked it up and gave it back to him…

"Don't wanna forget this…"

"Thank you so much…" Reid said, then he attempted to scurry away.

"Reid!" Rossi called out in a low voice.

"Go get her…"

Reid gave him a grateful smile and walked away.


	6. Perfect Chemistry

Less than an hour later, Reid and Maeve were alone in Mendel University's chemistry lab… they had it all to themselves, with its white walls, posters of the periodic table of elements, among other things, heavy stone-topped lab tables, and the sulfuric scent of chemicals and citrus industrial cleaners. Most people wouldn't find the scene to be a particularly romantic one. Certainly no one else would have considered it the ideal spot to propose to the love of your life… but he did. It was perfect. This was the place for the moment that would shape the rest of their lives.

"You know what's weird?" Maeve asked.

"What?" Spencer asked.

"We're probably the only couple who would find this place a good place to go after sharing a romantic dinner…" Maeve replied.

"I guess that's true…" he said.

"Yeah…guess everybody else doesn't have very good taste… I like it here…"

"I'm glad…" He told her, not knowing how else to respond. Every bit of his remaining capacity for thought process was directed toward figuring out how to breach the subject.

"Are you finally going to tell me what's up?" She asked. "Because we only have a couple of hours up here before they lock the building…"

"I know…I wish tonight didn't have to end…"

"Well you know what they say…every Penrose Triangle has its thorns…" she said, calling up the old private joke between them.

"Maybe not…" he said…tentatively approaching the subject he'd been desperate to reach all night.

He looked calm, he wasn't shaking…not even a little. But inside his heart hammered and his head was gripped by a dull throb. There was no backing down, no rethinking it or searching for words at this point. He just had to roll with it… still there was a part of him that was viciously second-guessing himself; not just about whether or not she would say yes, or how to go about it, but about whether or not he was really good enough for her or whether he was worthy of love at all.

He looked up to see her jade-green eyes studying him intently, having noticed by now that whatever he hadn't been telling her was about to come into the open.

"Spencer what do you mean…?"

"Maeve… you and I… we used to spend our days alone…probably sometimes in labs just like this one…looking at microscopes… now we've found each other and suddenly… what's around us right here right now…is more interesting than anything on an old microscope slide… We belong together… and I…I want us to be together forever…"

"Spencer…"

"L-let me finish…" He said, he took the ring back out of his pocket, careful to hide it from Maeve's sight with his palms, and got down on one knee. "I don't want tonight to ever have to end…so…Maeve Evina Donovan… Will you marry me…?" he asked, opening the little velvet box to reveal its contents and gazing up at her with pleading eyes.

Maeve smiled back and looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh my God… Oh my God… Yes!" She answered. She jumped down and hugged him tightly, almost knocking him over.

Reid hugged back just as tightly, then they both got to their feet and he took the ring out of the box and put it on her finger.

"Spencer…it…it's so beautiful…" Maeve said, gazing down at the rose-shaped ring in happy disbelief.

"I'm glad you like it…"

"It's perfect…it's all perfect…" she said, hugging him again and kissing him passionately. "Spencer…I love you so much…"

"I love you too…" he replied, returning the embrace and kissing her back. Then something happened that had never happened to him before, he lost himself in passion. He didn't know how long they stayed there, holding each other and making out…he'd lost sight of all his surroundings, the soft touch of her body against his, the loving look in her eyes, the way their hearts seemed to be beating in sync, were all he noticed.

It was only when the janitor came upstairs to clean the floor, that the moment was finally broken.

"Um…Hi…hello…? EARTH TO THE HAPPY COUPLE!"

They both looked up at him.

"Sorry guys. I hate to interrupt… but uh… I've got a floor to clean and then I'm locking up… the building's about to close for the night…"

Reid looked at Maeve… "My place…?"

"Let's go!" She replied.

They nodded to the janitor and left the building…


	7. The Morning After the Best Night Ever

When Reid woke up the next morning, Maeve was snuggled up against him, her head resting on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair, he was struck by how soft it was how sweet it smelled… these details had been lost on him before, when he'd always felt like his shoes were tied together in her presence. But now, now that she'd confirmed that she returned his feelings on a whole new, and much higher, level than ever before and they belonged to each other in a new way… he wasn't nearly so on edge. He kissed the top of her head affectionately.

"Good morning…" He said.

Maeve opened her eyes and yawned.

"Morning…"

"Last night was-" he began, but he was cut off.

"Perfect." Maeve finished. "I just have one question…" she said.

"What is it…?" Reid asked.

"Just how long were you planning all of that…?"

"Let's see… actively planning, the last month or so… but I've known I wanted to since we got you away from Diane Turner…"

"Well that was quite possibly the best night of my entire life so far…especially when we came back here…" Maeve said.

"What do you mean so far…?" He asked.

"Oh, our wedding night will be even better…" she said, standing up now, reduced to a T-shirt and purple lace underwear.

"Speaking of that…" Reid began, sitting cross legged on the bed in nothing but his boxers. "I have no experience with any of this a-at all… so I …I don't know what usually happens at this point…I mean I know _what _happens but how fast does it happen…?"

"Well, my experience is almost just as limited as yours but I think it's up to us, I mean we both tell our friends and families we're engaged and then we start planning the wedding…but as far as when we get the ball rolling there isn't really a standard about that…not everything is objective Spencer…"

"So, uh…what do you want…?"

"Personally… You were right last night, we belong together and there's really not a lot of sense in putting off making it official any longer than we have to… What's your take…?"

"I couldn't agree more…"

"Good… then we'll have to start working it all out…but I think the first thing we should do is each tell our closest friends…and speaking on which…it's 7:30 now…"

"Oh no, Hotch will have my head…"

"I doubt that…the guy might be your boss, but he's not heartless… much better than my department head…"

Reid was already getting dressed. "Was that the guy who gave you a hard time about wanting a little time off when I was in the hospital a few months back…?"

"And after you got out…so you could actually get out on time… yeah, that's the one…"

"He sounded like a jerk…"

"He is, but fortunately I don't have to deal with him a whole lot…" Maeve said, getting the rest of her own clothes back on.

"We have to get going, I'll drop you off and then I'm already late, we've gotta move…"

"Well this should help, I need to get back to university anyway and that's a lot less out of your way than my place is…"

"Ok, let's go…"

Then they left for work…

Spencer was surprised, when he pulled into the parking lot of Mendel University's Science Complex, just how much he actually didn't want to drop Maeve off, how much it pained him to. He wanted to just go back home and back to how they'd just been and stay there forever.

Beneath the overhang covering the front entrance, he stopped, shifted the car into park, and they kissed passionately before she got out.


	8. The Daily Grind

Then he drove the BAU, parked and headed for the bull pen. When he got there he almost ran right into Morgan.

"Morning Reid…"

"Hi Morgan…"

"Why are you so late?" Morgan asked. "You're usually early…"

"Late night…but I think maybe you knew that…"

"Why would I know anything about that?" Morgan asked defensively.

"Because you were there for at least part of it… I saw you and bumped in to Rossi…"

"You saw us…?"

"Yep…and I also know that you know…you know?"

"That I know what?" Morgan asked, Reid was actually starting to confuse him.

Reid pulled him into the hallway where no one else could see or hear.

"I proposed to Maeve last night…"

"And…? What did she say?"

"She said yes…"

"Congrats Man, that's great! I'm happy for ya…"

"Thanks Morgan…"

"When ya gonna tell the rest of the team?"

"Not just yet…but soon…"

"Ok…"

Then he went and told Rossi, who was sitting in his office reading a book, what he had told Morgan.

"So she said yes…" Rossi said proudly.

"Yeah…can you believe it?" Reid asked excitedly.

"Of course I can…I knew you could do it kid…"

"Now will you tell me why you guys were there?"

"Um…ask Morgan…it was his stupid idea…"

"You guys were keeping an eye on me… weren't you?"

"Yep…"

"Normally I'd be a little angry and curious as to why Morgan thought I couldn't handle it on my own…but given that I might've lost the ring, had it not been for you…I'm kind of glad you guys were there…."

"Hey…what're friends for…? We got your back Reid…no matter what…"

"Thanks…"

Meanwhile at Mendel University… Maeve was working a shift down in the hospital because there wasn't much to do in the lab and the medical center found itself shorthanded. She walked into one of the many supply rooms and it was there that she ran into her friend Megan. Megan was a neurologist by specialty and hardly ever up in the lab. She was in her late forties and had shoulder-length red hair, large, almost circular brown eyes and a round face. She stood only 5'3, three inches shorter than Maeve.

When Maeve saw her, standing there in her red scrubs and white lab coat, on her tip toes, reaching for something just barely out of her reach, she came up behind her and grabbed it down.

"Hey Megan," she said, handing her the box of syringes.

"Good morning…" Megan replied.

"Morning…"

"So…?" Megan said, turning her head sideways and leaning in toward Maeve like a teenager who wanted to hear the detail of a friend's prom experience.

"What Megan?" Meave said impatiently.

"So…how'd it go…?"

"That depends on what you're referring to…"

"Last night of course! How was last night…?"

"It was…fine…"

"Oh it was more than fine… Maeve Donovan you are beat red…now spill some details before you make me crazy…"

"It was great…we went to our favorite place for dinner and he brought me my favorite flowers and then he proposed and then-"

"Wait…stop, stop, stop… he proposed…?"

"Yes…"

"And what did you say…?"

"I told him yes…"

At that, Megan screamed like a school girl and hugged her tightly.

"Oh Maeve…I'm SO happy for you! That…that is fantastic…"

"This…coming from the woman who claims that marriage is for the birds? Megan Hunt…do I detect a change of heart?"

"No…but you two are a much better match than me and my ex-husband… that jerk managed to take Lacey, my own daughter, away from me for seven years!"

"Yeah I know…the guy was an ass… but Spencer is not him…"

"More like that anti-him… you're lucky…"

"I know…"

"So…are you wearing the ring?" Megan asked.

Maeve took the ring out of the inside pocket of her lab coat and showed it to her.

"I didn't wanna risk losing it…"

"I can see why…he's definitely got better taste in jewelry than I'd have given him credit for…that thing is gorgeous…and it's huge!"

"I wasn't expecting this…I mean I saw it coming eventually but…I thought he'd make me wait another year…"

"Clearly he didn't want to either…"

"yeah…"


	9. the Bad Doctor

The following Saturday, when the BAU came home from their next case, Maeve was there to greet them.

"Hi Guys…" she said, standing just inside the glass door and beaming from ear to ear.

"Hi…" they replied together.

Reid walked over to join her, also smiling broadly.

"Ok guys…what's going on…?" JJ asked.

"We have…a-an announcement to make…" Reid said, stumbling over the fact that it was still so surreal even to him.

"Which is…?" Blake wondered out loud, giving him her: _The worst thing you can do to a linguist is not communicate _stare.

"Go on… tell them Spencer, or I will…"

"Well, last Sunday night…I finally gathered up the courage to ask Maeve to marry me…and she said yes." He said finally.

"Guys…that's great! I'm so happy for both of you."

"Thanks JJ." Reid replied.

"W-wow… and you were keeping that a secret all week?" Blake responded.

"We wanted to tell you guys together…" Maeve explained.

"Congratulations" Hotch said, the look on his face giving Reid the impression that he'd seen this coming. This wasn't surprising, Hotch was good at what they did and had, had ten years to profile Reid and learn to decipher the meaning of changes in his emotional climate. Beyond that, he too had once found the love of his life and taken that same plunge of asking her to marry him.

Morgan and Rossi just stood there smiling, looking from each other to Reid and back.

In the weeks that followed, there were a lot of changes. For starters… Maeve and Reid moved in together. Maeve joined him in his apartment rather than him joining her in her tiny loft which was barely enough space for even one person and way farther out of the way. For both of them. Both of them understood that this was a temporary arrangement. They were starting to plan the wedding itself, and once they had that pretty well thought out, they would start looking for a house.

The couple wasn't sure where life would go from there, all they did know was that they didn't want to waste any time laying the groundwork for their new life together. They'd waited long enough to find each other, waited another ten long months afterward before they could actually be together…they were done waiting; and while their friends couldn't be happier for them, not everyone was so overjoyed.

Dr. Colman, Maeve's department head… couldn't stand the idea that one of his star players might actually have more of a life outside the university. He hadn't been able to stand it the first time Maeve had gotten engaged, even though he'd known from the beginning, even as out of touch as he was, that the match was never going to last. This time was worse, it was worse because she was actually _happy. _He couldn't stand it when his employees were happy because he himself, was never happy. He was a lonely old bachelor who'd lost the only woman he'd ever loved, to his best friend, and then to a plane crash. The very idea that anyone he outranked have any happiness disgusted him. All he would ever have was his money and his work…why should any of those working under him have any more than that? It just further convinced him that the world wasn't fair.

He'd once even tried to rectify the situation. When Maeve had been with Bobby, Dr. Colman had slated her to read the thesis of a certain unstable research assistant…knowing that Maeve would most likely reject it for its ludicrous suggestion and sub-par support for it. He had actually hoped it would be enough to make Diane crack. He had hoped it would be enough to ruin everything Maeve had going for her that wasn't job related. This had failed miserably, not only had she lost Bobby only to find someone better, but that someone had managed to rescue her and now here they were, twenty months since Maeve had received Diane's Dissertation…and the whole thing was starting all over again only to be painfully better this time.


	10. One of These Reids is Not Like The Other

Reid hadn't realized just how much of an undertaking it was to plan a wedding… While he didn't want to do it, he was beginning to understand why some couples got married in his hometown of Vegas in a casino or drive-through chapel and skipped all the flowers and music and cake and stuff. Probably because, like him, they just wanted to get married and be done with it so they could move on with the rest of their lives with the person they loved. It just wasn't in him to quit and take the easy road just because the right way was long and/or annoying. Besides…while she tried to mask it around him for reasons unknown, and while it was one of the many things about women he still didn't understand, he could still tell that Maeve was relishing every minute of it…supposedly most women began fantasizing about their wedding from the time they were little girls…so he thought it better to just let her have her fun and try to be of at least some help.

Spencer finally decided to call his cousin Paul, Paul was the only one in his family who was already married…less than four months ago Reid had traveled to New Jersey for his cousin's wedding…and near as he could tell, Paul and his then-fiancé, Robin, had done a fine job with theirs. So maybe Paul would have some insight now.

Paul Reid had always been deemed the "normal" one…unlike his brother and cousins, he was not particularly academically gifted…he'd done alright, had managed a full class load of AP and Honors classes in High School and gone to Harvard on a partial scholarship… but in a family where four…count them…four people around his own age had IQs of one-hundred seventy or higher and had all finished school between one and six years early…Paul's own academic accomplishments tended to fall by the wayside.

This was fine with him though, he liked his relatively average life, something he knew the others craved on some level but would never have… He liked his job as a detective with the local police department, he liked staying in the town where he grew up, where he could be close to his mother…keep his twin brother out of trouble, and stay near the home he'd always known.

But while he enjoyed his own averageness… he too had a natural gift… as if the universe had wanted to prove to him, and everyone else, that he belonged in his own family, Paul had known from very early on that he was a musical genius. He'd been able to play Mozart since age six. Every instrument he'd ever picked up, no matter how difficult or obscure, he'd learned to play flawlessly within an hour of having obtained it. Music was the one area where he outshined the others… his one claim to…well… Reidness…

So there he sat in his living room, on a Saturday evening, fingering his prized electric guitar, trying to form the notes and simply melody swirling in his head, into a song. His wife, Robin, was a trauma surgeon and was currently working the graveyard shift at the local hospital, so if he wanted to…he could plug in his amp without disturbing anyone. But right now, he was just enjoying the relative silence.

Then the phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw his cousin's name… that was unusual, Spencer didn't usually call. Paul answered it.

"Hello…?" He said.

"Hey…" Spencer replied.

"Hey…? What's up…?" Paul asked.

"I need to talk to you about something…"

"Yeah…that much I can gather Spencer… what is it? I haven't heard from you since the wedding…"

"That's actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about…"

"You proposed to her…didn't you?" Paul asked. While they both liked to pretend that they were very different, in certain ways they actually weren't. Paul knew exactly how to read his cousin. He'd seen this coming months ago.

"Yes…"

"That's great Spencer! Please tell me she accepted."

"She did…"

"Good…"

"This wedding stuff is a lot more in depth than I thought it would be…"

"Oh I know…I literally sat there like a lump on a log and nodded yes to whatever Robin wanted."

"Darn it…I was hoping you could help me out here…"

"Who's to say I can't? You'll undoubtedly need music right? Leave that to me and the guys…"

"You'd do that?"

"Spencer…what is family for?"

"Thanks so much…"

"Sure thing…"

Then they hung up… Paul's wheels were turning…he knew he had to make this rock…so he set about writing some original pieces… This, much more than playing existing music, was what he lived for.


	11. Surprise Wedding Gifts

"So you entrusted the music for our wedding to your cousin?" Maeve said, not sure whether or not she thought that was a good idea.

"Paul is really good at that kind of stuff…"

"I know…but I'm also remembering the snowboarding incident…"

"That…was an accident and besides it was at least 50% my fault. I'm the one who screwed up…"

"And Paul's the one who hit a tree…"

"That was almost six months ago…"

"Yeah but…"

"Look, can Paul be a reckless idiot sometimes? Absolutely. But will he do anything crazy and/or stupid with this? Definitely not. Paul is a lot of things, the majority of which are good, but jerk is not one of them."

"Ok…"

"We still need to decide when…"

"December twenty-eighth!" Maeve replied.

"Why that specific date?"

"Because It's after Christmas and the several days between Christmas and New Year's is my favorite time of the year, and plus that gives us two and a half more months to plan." She explained.

"Ok."

Less than a month later, in no small part thanks to Rossi, the wedding was pretty well nailed out. It would take place, inside the Scottish cultural center on December 28th, at sunset, when the sun was coming in head-on through the stained glass windows.

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Paul was talking to his brother, Joey.

"I need you to do something…"

"What?"

"I need you to go to Vegas over Christmas…"

"What is this about…?"

"Spencer's getting married…"

"Well yeah I know that but…"

"He doesn't have the time to drive home and back to get Aunt Diana, he's already written off her being there as a pipe dream."

"So fly…"

"Aunt Diana…on a public flight…strike that… on a plane period…? Really? At best it'd be something out of Flight Plan-"

"Good movie…"

"Joey! Focus!"

"Ok…sorry…"

"So you're going to drive there…then you're going to drive back…and you will BOTH be there in Virginia, in time for the wedding…"

"Are we going to tell Spencer about this?"

"No…I'm going to rsvp an extra person under an assumed name, probably one of our old friends who's invited but isn't going."

"So it's a surprise?"

"No…really?" Paul asked sarcastically.

"Hey give me a break… you know I can't read people to save my life."

"One…I'm your brother…and second…that wasn't a matter of reading people. That was a matter of logic. I thought you had an IQ of two hundred."

"Two hundred and three…" Joey corrected him.

"Exactly…"

"Sorry…"

"So you'll do it right?"

"Of course I'll do it…" Joey said, looking at Paul like that shouldn't have even been a question. "Never leave a man behind…"

"You are such a marine…"

"I did five years active duty remember? I served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Yemen…pretty much every other sandy hellhole you can think of…"

"Yeah and now they have you doing…what exactly…?"

"Bomb analysis…figuring out how the enemy is making theirs and how to disarm them…then teaching the squads on the ground how to recognize and disarm them…because hopefully that way…no one else has to get hurt.

Meanwhile Dr. Coleman was still thinking through how exactly he would get back at Maeve. How far should he go? Should he just ruin their night or should he actually get rid of her once and for all? She he kill that Reid fellow and throw Maeve into turmoil…or should he kill her? Should he make the other watch? Should he make the guests watch? What should his weapon be…?

He could easily poison the groom…dispersing copious amounts of certain chemicals which would severely aggravate a certain pre-existing condition… which Colman only knew about through his access to Maeve's files. That was something…use the very thing that brought them together against them.

Or…or he could just crash the reception and shoot up the place… or blow it up… yes that was it…he would blow it up… now he just needed a bomb.


	12. Joseph's Forgery

Pretty much everything was ready by Thanksgiving, Garcia would officiate, Henry would be the ring bearer, Spencer's cousin, Tim would be the best man, and the other groomsmen would be Morgan and Hotch. Rossi had bowed out but offered to give a toast at the reception, (as well as host the reception). They'd also tried to recruit Paul's identical twin brother, Joey… but he had made it clear that he couldn't stand going up in front of a crowd of people even if all he had to do was show up and stand there.

In the back of his mind, Spencer secretly wanted his mother at the wedding… but he knew that couldn't happen. That would involve a two full week round-trip drive across the country and that meant there just wasn't enough time to make that happen. Not when he was the only one who could sign her out of Bennington and she was so scared of flying. He may as well just accept it now. She wouldn't be able to come. He had plenty of vacation time coming to him but since he was already going to be out for another three weeks for the honeymoon, he just didn't feel right even asking. He didn't want to leave the team a man down for so long.

In the meantime, Reid and Maeve had picked out a house. It was an old, colonial brownstone with four bedrooms, so that they'd have room to have kids someday without having to move again, and would have room for a small, home library… These had been their main must-haves. Because to put it mildly, their now-shared apartment currently looked like a bookshop from before shelves were invented and neither one of them wanted to give up a single volume.

Meanwhile, Joseph Reid, Joey, was practicing forging his cousin's signature. He would need to get Aunt Diana a temporary release from her hospital. Only on Spencer's order was she ever to leave that place, he had power of attorney over her and had ever since he turned eighteen and put her in there. It had been a good idea at the time, and to a large extent still was…it was just making things difficult at the moment. Fortunately the doctors themselves were unlikely to be able to tell the difference, because he, Paul, and Spencer, were ALL genetically identical. Aunt Diana and Joseph and Paul's own mother, Spencer's Aunt Megan, were a pair of identical twin sisters, and the same was true of their fathers… William and Daniel Reid, though Paul and Joseph's father had died when his sons were only four years of age and they hadn't seen their uncle since he had flat out abandoned his own wife and son. Even with the exact same genetics present in their parents it was still an extraordinary fluke of nature that Spencer was genetically identical to his cousins, even more amazing that they were all within hours of the exact same age.

Only their styles, interests, and talents separated the three men. All it would take to pull it off would be to ditch Joey's own over-sized jeans and plaid flannel shirt for something more like something Spencer would pick out and use contacts instead of his glasses. Then no one would know the difference, well except maybe Aunt Diana herself. In reality she actually wasn't crazy so much at unstable and unable to be trusted to take care of herself without someone watching her like a hawk. In fact, even if she was only semi-lucid she would still know the difference. She knew her son and she knew her nephews… he just hoped that he could manage to convince her not to sound the alarm long enough to get her out of there.


	13. The Wedding: Preparations

Finally the big day arrived, everything would be different now. Spencer was busy putting on his tuxedo, wondering if he'd drop the wedding ring or choke on his own tongue when the time came for the vows…he knew that this was quite possibly the biggest day of their lives and that it was supposed to be an almost magical celebration. But at the same time, he could see just about a million ways this day could go so very wrong, so many ways he could screw up and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't shake the feeling that he would, in fact, mess up somehow… Maybe it was because he still had so little self-confidence when it came to social situations, maybe that was because, other than with Maeve and his friends and family, they very rarely went right for him. Still, this was the day to change all of that, to change everything…

Meanwhile JJ, wearing in a knee-length, off the shoulder dress, was kneeling down next to her five year-old son Henry, who was about to serve as a ring-bearer. The little boy watched intently as his mother fastened each silver button on his tiny, white dress-shirt.

"So…do you remember what you get to do today?" JJ asked.

"Uh huh… I bring rings up…" Henry replied.

"That's right…"

"When music starts, then I go up…?"

"That's right…but not too fast…you want Maeve to be right behind you…and then when Auntie Penelope asks if Uncle Spencer has the ring, what do you do then?"

"I lift the pillow high!" The little boy answered, demonstrating by flinging his arms high above his head.

"Yep, but remember to keep the pillow flat ok?"

"I know Mommy…"

Then JJ helped him put on his little black suit jacket.

Meanwhile, Paul sat at the piano inside the small chapel where his cousin would soon be married, as he played the instrumental version of a love song he had written himself. This was no ordinary wedding march, it told a story if you had the ear to hear it. It told their story, Spencer and Maeve's, how they had come together and how they would stay that way forever… That music could do that…that it could be written to convey emotion and tell stories this way, even without a single word… had always seemed, to Paul at least, as odd as it was wonderful…

He knew he could play it flawlessly without even thinking, without the sheet music in front of him even… he could transcribe music flawlessly just by hearing it and when he wrote a piece of his own creation it became almost etched onto his brain…onto hi very being… Yet…on the outside chance that he could make a mistake, he wanted to make absolutely sure that he had it… partly because there were two different versions of this particular song. The one which would serve as the wedding march was slower and entirely instrumental, then there was also the same song, put at a faster tempo and which put words to the story the music already conveyed. He just had to not let himself get carried away and remember to play the slow version. So he played through it about a dozen more times.

Then he heard his cellphone ring. It was Joey.

"Hey bro…"

"Hi Paul…"

"How goes operation Mother of the Groom? Are you guys getting close? You only have about six hours…"

"Actually…"

"Jo…how far away are you?"

"Let's put it this way… I'm really considering ditching the truck and getting us on the next flight to Quantico…"

"Joey…I thought we agreed that you would drive… You know she's terrified of flying, if you put her on a plane… best case scenario she goes catatonic until you land…worst case she totally flies off the handle and you guys get detained by airport security…"

"Well at this point it's either roll the dice with the plane or barely make the reception…"

"Fine…but you'd better hope this doesn't come back to bite us…"

"Hey…if you want something done right, do it yourself…"

"I was put in charge of the music…getting her here was your job…"

"And I'm doing it…"

"Good…"

"Why are you so uptight?"

"Because I had a feeling something like this would happen…"

"You know, you could've plotted this with Nana…she'd have helped out with this…"

"I know she would've but she lives a lot farther away from Vegas and a lot closer to Virginia than we do…it wouldn't make sense… besides… I believe she volunteered for head chef…"

"That surprises you? The woman lives alone and still routinely makes enough food to feed as army… I'm amazed she has to cook more than once a month and we all know her stuff is amazing…" Joey said, his mouth watering with memories of the delicious food they used to have as kids when they'd all pile in to their grandmother's house around the holidays.

"Which is just another reason it made very little sense to get her to do your job…" Paul reminded him.

"We have a plane to catch, I'll see you in a few hours…"

"Ok…"

"Bye…"

"Bye."

Meanwhile, Garcia was semi-panicking as she stood in front of the mirror in a nearby ladies' room, fluffing out her curly blond hair and trying to place her headband, which on this particular day had a 3D felt wedding cake on perched on top of it at an angle.

As witty and confident as she was in her dark little office where she felt safely cloistered away, when she was in front of groups, especially when what she had to do was this important... was a completely different story. She was freaking out.

_Ok, Ok…calm down…calm down…don't freak out…don't even make eye contact with the crowd, just Reid and Maeve, just act like you're talking to them like normal… yeah…ju_st _imagine a bunch of empty chairs… _

Suddenly she heard a knock at the door.

"Garcia…? Hey Babygirl…? You in there?" she heard Morgan ask.

"Yeah…"

"You ready…?"

_As I'll ever be… _She thought. "Just about…"

"Well hurry up… we gotta start pictures soon…"

"I thought that was after…"

"It's both so we don't leave them all for last minute…let's go…"

"Ok I'm coming…" She said, hastily re-applying her hot-pink lipstick.


	14. The Wedding: Smart and Smarter

Soon Spencer heard a knock on the door. He opened it to see his grandmother standing there, in a red satin dress, her once-brown hair dyed a heavy scarlet red, almost purple...her blue eyes were like ocean-blue pools filled with all the wisdom she had gathered in her eighty-five years. Like so many times before in his life, she was there when her daughter, his own mother, couldn't be.

"Hi Nana…" he said, as he watched her look him up and down a few times.

"Oh Honey…" She exclaimed, hugging him warmly. "You look as dashing as your grandfather did, on our wedding day…"

"Thanks…but what are you doing here…I figured you'd still be…"

"Still be in the kitchen? Making copious amounts of just about everything I know how to make? Believe it or not, I am finished, but I would've come anyway… Sometimes, when it comes to family, we have to make time… just how long have I been trying to teach you kids that?"

"Um…Tim's the oldest and he's thirty-nine so, almost forty years I guess…"

"That's right…and I don't know why, but only in the last year or so does it finally seem to be sinking in…"

"Is this one of those 'you need to come visit me more' speeches?" He asked.

"No… this is one of those 'you're officially on the short list to give me great-grandkids before I die…and then you'd better bring them up to visit me more…' speeches…"

"Nana…" He said, half looking at her, half at the floor.

"What…? I'm not getting any younger Sweetheart…" She said, then her smile disappeared. "But my silliness isn't what's bugging you… is it…? I know that look Spencer…what is it honey?"

"What if I mess up…?"

"You're not going to… you'll be standing up there with those friends of yours…and she's going to come down that isle and when she does she's all you'll see…nothing else will matter…and everything will flow from there…"

"How do you know…?" He asked.

"Because I've had this conversation a few times…with your uncle… and your cousin…"

"Seriously…?"

"Oh yeah…your uncle was terrified because he was being deployed literally the day after the wedding, and Paul…Paul was convinced Robin was going to leave him at the alter…"

"That's insane…"

"You know that and I know that, but at the time…he didn't know that…and that's kind of my point here…"

"I'm not following…"

"Sometimes… when something is both exciting and nerve-racking… like this… especially if we don't exactly have the best track record with big events… We let our fears get the better of us and allow them to trick us into believing things we know aren't true…"

"Did you ever have that happen?" he asked.

"Oh my goodness, Yes! When you and your cousins grew up, got your degrees, and then your jobs… when you all started putting your own lives together… I was so proud of all of you, but also terrified…I was scared because somewhere in the back of my mind I thought that it meant that none of you would need me anymore…"

"That's ridiculous Nana… we'll always need you…I'll always need you…" He replied. This earned him another very tight hug.

When she let go she said: "Well…it's time… you better get out there for the photos of the wedding party and I'll go find a seat… just relax honey… when this is over you'll look back and realize it was all worth it."

Then they both left the room.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Maeve's dad had come in to talk to her as she re-adjusted her veil.

Joe Donovan stood there in his tux, looking at his daughter and wondering where the little girl he used to read Norse Fairy Tales had gone.

"You look beautiful Sweetheart…"

"Thank you Daddy…"

"You look so much like your mom…"

"I wish she was here…"

"So do I honey… so do I…it's a shame she's no-longer with us to see this…but I have to think that if she could see, wherever she is, she'd be smiling…and I know she's proud of you…"

"She'd be proud of you too…since when are you not kicking and screaming every step of the way in anything that involves my 'growing up'…?"

"Since the last time she told me to cut the crap and shut it…in other words…" He began, but Maeve cut him off.

"Right before she died…" She finished, not wanting to relive it in as much detail as he was bound to provide.

"Yeah…" He admitted.

"Well, at least you finally listened…"

"I'm not that bad am I…?"

"Dad…do you even hear yourself have the time…? I mean you're a perfectly nice guy but up until a few months ago, Spencer was afraid of you…"

Suddenly they heard someone call Maeve's name.

"I think that's our cue…you ready?" Joe asked, offering her his arm.

"Ready." She said, taking it.

There was no flower girl, so they just got in line behind Henry, standing there like a statue, in his little suit, holding the pillow out flat as if his life depended on it.

When Paul began to play, the five year-old boy started to walk toward his godfather.

Reid, his cousin Tim, Morgan, and Hotch stood there across the Isle from a few of Maeve's friends from the university with Garcia smack in-between the two groups. Reid gulped hard out of anxiousness, waiting for Maeve and her father to come into view.

When they did, he could hardly take it in. She was wearing a sleeveless, one-shouldered gown with fabric that sparkled like the freshly fallen snow outside and four different layers of fabric that were cut so that they fell into layers on one side. She was so breathtakingly beautiful that he could have literally fallen off the platform right then and there out of sheer distraction.

When they arrived, Maeve took her place in-between Reid and her father.

Then Garcia stepped forward to speak.

"Friends, family, dearly beloved… we gather here today at to join two of the best friends, best people I've ever known, together in the bonds of marriage and celebrate their love for each other. So let's get this ball rolling…" She said.

Reid put his open right hand out.

"Mr. Donovan, you may place Maeve's hand in his.

He did.

Then the time came for the vows.

"Maeve, In your eyes, I have found my home." Reid began.

"Spencer, You are my inspiration and my soul's fire." Maeve replied.

"In your heart, I have found my love." He continued.

"You are the magic of my days." She said.

"You help me laugh, you teach me love."

"In your soul, I have found my true match."

"With you, I am whole, full, alive."

"You provide a safe place for me, unlike any I've ever known."

"You make me laugh. You let me cry."

"You free me to sing my own song."

"You are my breath, my every heartbeat." He said.

"You are more of an amazement to me, each day I rediscover you." She replied.

"I am yours."

"I am yours."

"You are mine."

"You are mine."

"Of this we are certain."

"Of this we are certain."

"You are lodged in my heart."

"You are lodged in my heart."

"The key is lost."

"The key is lost."

"Now you must stay forever."

"Now you must stay forever."

"Have you the ring?" Garcia asked when they were finished.

At that, little Henry raised his pillow high, on it, sat two gold wedding rings.

"Place the ring on each other's fingers."

They did.

"I now pronounce you Smart and Smarter…"


	15. Called to Action

They smiled at each other.

"You may now kiss the bride!" Garcia announced excitedly.

Nana had been right, once Reid heard that, it was like the rest of the world no-longer existed. Even with close to forty people watching, they shared a makeout session not unlike the one from when they'd first gotten engaged. Only this time, Reid dipped her skillfully, and of course it couldn't last nearly as long.

The rest of the actual ceremony was a blur. Not much registered until finally, Joey came up to talk to him in between the ceremony and the reception.

"Hey man…"

"Hey, I was starting to wonder if you'd made it…"

"Yeah sorry…about that…getting your wedding present here proved to be a little more complicated than I expected. But hey, I made it happen…and just wait until you see it, you're going to thank me for this."

"What is it…?" Spencer asked, confused by Joey's strange mood. His elation was radiating from him and yet his descriptions were uncharacteristically vague… Usually Joey was the last person you'd trust with a non-work-related secret.

"It's not really so much of a 'what'… it's really a who…"

"Who is it?"

Then without warning, Diana Reid appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and hugged her son tightly. She was surprisingly not only lucid, but for the moment, seemingly clear-headed and perfectly stable.

"Mom?"

"Hello Baby…"

"I don't understand…how did you…?"

"Your cousins…apparently they conspired to spring me from Bennington so I could make it…"

"Joey…"

"Hey…it was all Tim's idea then he told Paul and Paul recruited me as the delivery boy…"

"And speaking of which…" Diana interjected. "I just want to say something…?"

"Yes Aunt Diana…?"

"Joseph Reid you know I am terrified of flying…"

He jumped as if in pain and hung his head like a little boy who'd just gotten in trouble for breaking a neighbor's window.

"I know Aunt Diana, I'm sorry…but it was worth it right…?"

"Yes, yes, this time it was…but don't you ever scare me like that again."

"Yes ma'am…"

Meanwhile, Dr. Colman was taking his bomb into the boiler room. It would go off roughly halfway through the reception and blow the gas lines with it, sending the whole place sky high and reducing everyone inside to ashes. This would be his revenge… let little miss perfect have her moment…and then he would kill her and everyone either of them cared about. She'd pay dearly for having the kind of happiness he would never know… She'd pay by losing it, along with her own life, it would all go up in flames. He would be a safe distance away, laughing about it. It was perfect because there would be no evidence to catch him, even if anyone investigated it would be ruled a gas mane explosion. Even in the unlikely event that any of the bomb survived there was no evidence as to who had made it or why. He'd never made a bomb before so he wasn't in any file in connection to one and nothing in his history to suggest that he would make one or even knew how.

Soon they were finished with the various photos and the reception was getting underway. Tim, Reid's eldest cousin and best man, got up on the raised stage platform in the banquet hall and tested the microphone as almost everyone was chanting: "Speech! Speech!"

"Ok, Ok, Um…is thing on? I think it's on… Um…hi guys… for those of you who don't know me, I'm Tim…Spencer's cousin… first of all Congratulations to the happy couple… You guys are so beyond right for each other that most of us here probably saw this coming before you guys even met and from there the wait was almost painful to watch… Secondly Maeve, welcome to the family… You know, I've known Spencer my whole life…and there was a time when I doubted this day would ever come…I mean seriously… we were starting to think he was a perpetual bachelor, but I have to say, I've never been happier to be proven wrong."

After Tim got off the stage, Paul and his band came out. They had all of the songs pre-recorded and one of them who was good with a turn-table and terrible on the dance floor had offered to DJ. Still there were three, Paul's own original pieces, which he insisted they played live…and it was these that served as the first songs of the night.

The first was entitled _A Thousand Years _and was a love ballad about not allowing anything or anyone to get in the way, about not allowing yourself any chance to lose the person who you were always and will always be meant to be with. This he sung as a duet with his own beloved wife, Robin.

The second, which he had taken from a classic musical and then expanded upon, was written specifically for the father/daughter, mother/son dance… which thanks to Joey could now be done properly. Instead of playing it himself with his bandmates, he called Nana up onto the stage, she wasn't expecting that at all but because she'd listened to every practice he'd done since arriving over a week earlier, she knew the song and she pulled it off beautifully.

"Is this the little girl he carried? Is this my little boy at play? I don't remember growing older… when…did…they…? When did she get to be a beauty? When did he grow to be so tall? Now they must learn from one another, day by day…" she sang.

The third song, which was called _At the Beginning _was essentially the wedding march but with words. After that, most of the band got down from the stage and joined the rest of the wedding guests.

Only one of the guests wasn't up dancing… Joey just sat there, on high alert, his head swiveling all around the banquet hall. The sense that there was danger nearby, a feeling his time in the core had taught him to trust with not only his life, but the lives of those around him, was nagging at him.

While by the same token his mind was being flooded with flashbacks of the incident nearly ten years before that had ended his stint as an officer in the field. When while in Afghanistan, he'd thrown himself between a bomb and a civilian child. He'd told the little girl to run, run for her life, and once satisfied that she was safely away he'd moved to disarm it. There hadn't been time, he'd realized that and made a move to bolt from the area himself… but there hadn't been time for that either. An unusual device, the bomb had splattered him with hot tar, burning everywhere on his body that it touched, it was thick enough on his right leg that it had seeped through his uniform and burnt the skin so badly that it had peeled off down to the flesh from three inches above the knee to his ankle. The heat and pain were only exacerbated by the baking desert and the summer sun boiling down on him. His first lieutenant and best friend had, had to carry him on his back to a field hospital. Infection set into the exposed flesh on his leg and very nearly killed him. He'd come back, he'd healed…he was strong enough now that the physical remnants of that day didn't interfere with any of his abilities. But from then on he was relegated to home front posts, teaching, research… Only recently had he been considered for another field tour… unfortunately he'd failed the active duty physical, the doctor had taken one look at the horrific burn scars on his leg and not believed him when he'd explained that didn't hurt anymore, at least not 99% of the time… the 1% when they did…came in times like this… when he had the sense that the time might be near to disarm another bomb and have it not be a training exercise or demonstration. He just hoped that he was wrong…


	16. The Boiler Room

To Spencer, everything seemed to be going off without a hitch. They'd cut into their decagon-shaped, five layer wedding cake, only to discover that each layer was a different flavor, and that the base was made entirely on pumpkin cream-cake… Spencer's absolute favorite and Nana's specialty. He hadn't expected that at all, he hadn't even considered it… but he realized that he should have known because it was so like her to do something like that… the cake-like pumpkin-bread was still warm, and the cream cheese frosting filling was so good. He was with Maeve and everyone seemed to be having fun. As far as he could tell…for once, everything was right with the world.

Meanwhile, Robin Reid was standing by the wall, while Paul was getting them hot chocolate from the drink counter. While she waited, she could hear a strange sound through the wall that sounded like it was coming from the basement. Something inside told her that the sound was something to worry about…that it was a problem…a big one.

_Please not here, not here, not tonight… _She thought.

When Paul came back, he heard it too…

"What is that…?"

"I don't know… but it's scaring me…call me crazy but I think something's wrong down there."

"It's not crazy… I think you could be right… I'll go check it out… just stay calm and don't tell anyone, not until we know whether or not there is something or the building just needs some maintenance, especially Spencer and Maeve. This is their night… I don't want to scare them unless we absolutely have to…"

"Ook…"

Paul walked calmly but swiftly out of the banquet hall. It wasn't until he reached the door that he realized his brother was behind him.

"Joey, what are you doing?"

"I'm coming with you…"

"No."

"Paul, listen to me. I know it sounds crazy but I think there might be a bomb in the basement of this building."

"You're right, that does sound crazy… I'm just going to make sure there's no reason to end things early…it sounds like something's up with the boiler."

"Well actually, we could both be right. Depending on what it is that may, or may not, be wrong with it… the boiler itself might explode… Don't you think it might be a good idea to have someone down there with you who knows how to deal with something like that?" Joey asked.

Paul wanted to argue but the look his brother was giving him allowed no such refusal.

"You're not going to let this go…"

"No. No, I'm not. Back when I was in the field, I learned to trust my insticts, right now those same instincts are saying that I need to go with you, or evacuate the whole damn place. Alright?"

"Fine…come on…"

So the brothers headed down the utility stairs used by the maintenance staff.

When they reached the boiler room, they found it beyond a locked, steel door. Through the window in the door, they saw the boiler. It was clanking loudly like it hadn't been serviced in a while. But was interested them more was the device which appeared to be strapped to the boiler with duct tape.

"See…I told you…"

"We need to get in there…" Paul said, he began to pull furiously on the handle, but it didn't budge.

"This thing just won't open…"

Joey was kneelt below his brother, examining both the lock and the door frame.

"You call yourself a detective?"

"Hey…"

"You armed…?"

"Excuse me?"

"Are you armed? Do you have your firearm on you?"

"Yes…always…why?" Paul asked.

"Let me see it..." Joey said, more like he was giving an order than making a request.

"What are you doing?"

"Just trust me ok?"

"Ok…" Paul said, handing him his twenty-two caliber handgun. '

Joey took it. "Paul…back up and hit the deck… back up and get down on your stomach right now…"

Paul obeyed.

Joey stepped back until his back was pressed against the opposite wall of the hallway. He aimed the gun directly at the lock and pulled the trigger. It blasted the lock so that it could no-longer hold the door closed. Then it rebounded and got lodged in the wall just centimeters from where Joey's head had been when he fired. But he had already joined his brother on the ground.

"You knew that would happen and you still fired?"

"Oh, you had a better idea?"

They got to their feet.

"So what now…?"

"Now I go in there and disarm that thing."

"Joey…stop…we should go upstairs…we should notify the bomb-squad…"

"There might not be time for that, and besides… I thought you wanted to keep this on the DL."

"There's a bomb, in the basement…underneath our cousin's wedding reception. Screw the DL!"

"I can do this. Just let me handle it."

"What exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Stand watch… someone obviously did this… I highly doubt that boilers come standard-issue with bombs attached to them."

Paul nodded and positioned himself just outside the room, with his firearm at the ready.


	17. The Bomb

Joey knew he had to work fast, first of all determine just what kind of device he was dealing with…then disarm it. It was small and thick… about the size and shape of a large brick. The casing was black plastic which was likely enforced with some sort of heat-resistant material… and based on the combined scents of oil and hot metal… it likely contained two kinds of shrapnel material…nails or screws, and his old enemy…hot, molten tar…

The bomb had a timing device with just under twenty minutes left on it. Twenty minutes to disarm this thing. There were five exposed wires, red, blue, white, black, and pink. He cut the red one with his combat knife, which he still carried in his pocket, but that took ten minutes off the timer.

"Damnit…ok…let's try the white one…" he said.

He cut the white wire, but it didn't do anything at all, so he cut the pink next and that took another six minutes off the timer; leaving him with just three and a half minutes left.

Meanwhile, just outside… Paul watched as someone who clearly didn't belong down there was stalking the halls. He wasn't from their party and he certainly wasn't on the staff. So was he and what was he doing in the basement?

When he made the mistake of getting close, Paul trained his gun on him.

"Police! Halt and identify yourself!" The order was dubious at best since he was several state-lines out of his jurisdiction, but if this guy was the source of the bomb…well…Paul had officially stopped caring. No one would ever hurt his family, not while he was nearby and still breathing.

The man smiled at him darkly, then he reached into his pocket.

Afraid that he was going to pull out a weapon, Paul's finger tightened on the trigger of his own weapon.

But it wasn't a gun…it was a photo… a photo of Maeve… the man ripped the picture in half, threw it into the air in pieces and took off running. Paul finally understood what this was about and went after him, but for someone at least twice his age, the guy sure was fast.

Paul fired at the man's leg but missed, then he shot at his shoulder. That shot was a direct hit but it didn't slow him down at all, he just left a flying trail of blood behind him.

Back in the boiler room, Joey was trying to figure out how to disarm the bomb itself. Part of him wanted to pry the device open so that the shrapnel would lose almost all its velocity, but he was certain that if he did that the bomb would almost certainly go off before he could release the pressure. So he cut the black wire, hoping that would stop the clock. But it just set off half of the bomb, apparently the tar and the nails were being contained separately.

He cried out in pain as his arm was sprayed with the molten tar and he felt it burn his hand and his arm up past the elbow… but he gritted his teeth and finally cut the blue wire. The timer finally stopped with only forty seconds to spare.

"Paul, I got it, I got it… we're ok…!" Joey yelled, gasping in pain from the heat of the tar burning into the deeper layers of his skin.

"No we're not… you were right, someone did do this… I think he's here and he's after Maeve and probably Spencer… what do we do?"

"Find the fire-alarm. Pull the nearest fire-alarm, we need to evacuate. Someone who would use a device this sophisticated is bound to have a backup plan."

Paul yanked the fire-alarm and the brothers started running toward the nearest exit.

The pain was excruciating, but still Joey forced himself to keep running.


	18. The Brothers Reid

They hadn't gotten far when they realized that although it had been pulled, the alarm wasn't doing anything. No sirens, no lights were coming on at all. What in the world was going on here? Where was the alarm? That's when Joey realized that this was part of the enemy's contingency plan.

"Paul…" he said. "Go after that guy you saw, try and catch up with him."

"What are you going to do…?" Paul asked.

"There's a second device hidden here somewhere… I'm going to find it and disarm it as well." Joey said, as if he were in the field, briefing the troops under his command about their plan of attack. Paul finally understood…understood how his little brother, the quirkiest, most socially inept, and scrawniest of them all…had been transformed into the brave marine he saw before him now. Most of all, he finally realized that this transformation translated on the field as well as off of it.

Still, Paul had always been the older, more dominant, and in certain ways, stronger twin; and because of this, the mentality of a protector type had been imbedded in his very being and ran almost to the core of his soul. That wasn't about to change so easily, and so that part of him still couldn't help but worry.

"Joey. No. You're already injured…badly…you're right that we need to find this guy but Dude…you need a doctor…"

"I'll be ok…believe it or not…it's actually better if we let the tar cool and dry right where it is. Once it does, it'll be easier to remove without taking my skin with it… Trust me Paul. I know what I'm doing. Besides, we're wasting time."

"Ok…do what you have to do, but be careful ok?"

Joey nodded. "Thanks bro…"

"I got your back…always…"

"Semper Fi…"

Then the brothers went their separate ways.

Paul could hear pounding footsteps on the concrete floor. He stood there for a moment, absolutely still, absolutely silent…listening… Finally he knew where the sound was coming from, and he ran toward it.

He saw Coleman on the staircase, doubled over, trying to catch his breath from the looks of it…turns out the old man did have a breaking point after all.

Paul had his gun trained on him once more.

"So officer..." he said darkly. "Are you still planning on trying to save your cousin and that prissy little bitch he's in love with?"

"Watch your mouth. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to talk about a lady that way?" Paul replied sharply.

"Oh…chivalrous little brat aren't you? But in the end you're nothing more…"

"We'll see about that…" Paul said, yanking him down from the stairs by his suit coat, forcing him to the ground and cuffing him.

"You can't arrest me! You're out of jurisdiction!"

"You're right, but I DO still have the authority and responsibility to detain you until I can hand you over to people who can… In case this is news to you, you're being detained on suspicion of attempted murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit murder, and unlawful possession of explosives. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law, you have the right to an attorney, if you can't afford one, one can be appointed to you. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do!" He yelled, trying to struggle free and stand up.

At that, Paul put his gun to Coleman's ear.

"If I were you…I wouldn't give me a reason to shoot you. Let's get something straight here. I have every intention of handing you over to my cousin's teammates…letting them deal with you… but if you try to escape…if you hurt them…if you ever even dare come near my family again I will kill you. You can end up with your fate decided in a fair trial with a jury of your peers, at which I will personally take the stand as a prosecuting witness. Or, if you give me probable cause, I can kill you right here, right now. Those are your choices."

"You won't do it, you won't pull that trigger, not while there's still a chance you need me to save your family…your brother was right about my backup plan, there is a second device."

"He'll disarm it… you don't know Joey, if you did you'd understand… bringing a bomb against him is like bringing a pocket knife to a gun fight. You lose."

Back above ground, Spencer saw Robin standing by the wall alone. That was unusual, apart from work she and Paul had been figuratively joined at the hip since the wedding. He quickly scanned the rest of the room, but he didn't see Paul anywhere, actually…he didn't see Joey either. What was going on here?


	19. When All is Said and Done

Spencer went over to where Robin was standing there, by the wall, alone.

"Hi Robin…" He said.

She glanced at him nervously, her large blue eyes begged him not to push the questions she knew he wanted to ask her.

Rather than ask, he tried to read her, profile the situation based on her body language and behavior. But it was lost on him, her eyes presented a wall. Her body language said she had mixed feelings about preserving whatever secret she was keeping, but she gave him no clue, no way to even begin to decipher what it might be.

"Where's Paul?"

"Oh…he's…around…"

"Robin…no he's not…I've looked and I can't find him anywhere…he's not in this room. What's going on?"

"Nothing. Nothing is going on."

"You're repeating the question in your answer. That's your tell."

"No it isn't."

"Robin, yes it is. It has been ever since I met you when you and Paul started going out."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, pulling nervously at the lace sleeve of her pink ball gown.

"Robin, I know something's wrong. I just don't know what. I think you do…please tell me…"

"Honestly…I don't know much more than you do… just that Something is wrong, and that Paul and Joey went to go try to find out what and put a stop to it."

"Do you know which way they went…?"

"They left the room through the same door we all came in through…I don't know where they went after that." She said, her large blue eyes full of fear, practically begging him to figure out what on earth was going on.

He gathered the team and together they went after the twins…

Down in the basement of the building, they found Paul still detaining Coleman. He looked relieved when he saw them coming, yet he flashed an apologetic look at his cousin.

"I was starting to wonder when you guys were gonna show up…"

"Who's that…?" Morgan asked, pointing at Coleman.

"This is…what did you say your name was again?" Paul asked him.

"I am Dr. Coleman, head of Human Biological Sciences department at Mendel University…"

"You're Maeve's boss!" Reid exclaimed.

"Yes, that prissy little Bitch works under me alright, thorn in my side…" he trailed off as Paul tightened the handcuffs.

"Hey…manners… what did she ever do to you anyway?" He asked.

"She was happy, she had friends…" he said, then in nodded toward Reid "and love, all I've ever had to care about is my work…"

"Dude… pull out the stick up your ass and GET A LIFE!"

"What exactly did he do?" Hotch asked.

"He crashed the party and tried to send us all out with a bang…"

"Until that wiseass brother of his managed to disarm my device…"

"This guy had a bomb? How did Joey manage to disarm it so quickly and without help?" JJ asked.

"Joey's essentially a one-man bomb-squad…" Spencer answered.

Then Morgan took hold of Coleman.

"Well take it from here Paul, thanks man…" Morgan said, leading Coleman away.

"Paul, where's Joey now?" Spencer asked.

"You know, I'm not really sure."

Joey had actually already both disarmed and safely destroyed the second bomb, which turned out to more likely have been intended as the first since it was not at all complicated and other than being a really annoying decoy meant to buy time for the first one to go off, would've been pretty useless in terms of causing any real damage.

Now he found himself in the men's' room on the ground floor, treating his injured arm. After he had cooled the tar, he'd removed it with dish soap, this along with cooling it first had allowed him to keep the vast majority of his skin. Then to calm the burns, he'd made a paste out of baking soda, vinegar and bar soap. He almost lost himself in the soothing feeling as he caked this makeshift salve onto the burned areas. One he was finished, and he burnt arm and hand were safely covered in the mixture, he wrapped it in an improvised bandage of toilet paper and medical tape. He could move the arm and even the fingers freely and know exactly what he was doing with them but beyond that he had no feeling in it at the moment. At least it didn't hurt anymore.

There were a few reasons why he was putting off seeking professional medical attention. The first was that he knew alerting the rest of his family would only go further to ruin this night. Nana would no-doubt overreact and sound the alarm…though come to think of it, stealthily borrowing her well-stocked first aid kit would have made this a lot easier; and the less Spencer and/or Maeve knew about what had transpired, especially this part, the better.

Plus he had one more surprise for his cousin. He put on his fire-safe gloves, (which at this point also served to hide the injury from view) and called the entire party up to the roof… where he set off a fireworks show with the bride and groom's names appearing in the sky inside of huge red hearts. As the fireworks show was ending, he felt his brother and sister-in-law come up behind him, silently they removed him from the crowd. It was time to go make sure he would actually keep the skin he'd tried to preserve. Time to go to the hospital… At least they were being discrete about it. Spencer still didn't know that he'd gotten hurt disarming the bomb; and Joey didn't want him to know. He didn't know if Maeve knew about any of what had transpired…and as far as Joey was concerned, neither of them should have to know.

Several hours later, Spencer and Maeve laid snuggled in each other's' arms in a honeymoon suite at a four-star hotel in New York City. There, in that giant heart-shaped waterbed, they were about to try something they'd never done before.

Crossing this threshold was something Spencer found so oddly…typical… when there really wasn't much of anything else typical about them…partly because things didn't often seem to go their way… for the first ten months of their relationship they hadn't even known what the other looked like. They'd fallen in love this way, voices on two ends of a phone line. They'd fallen in love with each other's minds and hearts. As a result, the physical dimensions of their relationship came in second. The physical was unimportant to them, it would always play second fiddle to something much more important…and yet… There was a part of each of them, which longed for this, that longed to hold each other, to join as one physically as well as mentally…

Everything was ready… the "Do Not Disturb" sign was on the door, all they had to do, was well…do it. Having researched how exactly one went about this, he positioned himself on top of her. He kissed her forehead gently as she ran her fingers through his hair, and they were joined as one.

*END*

***Thanks to Everyone who has or will read this. I thrive on the support guys, you all give me the motivation to stay up just a little longer to post that 12:50 AM update. I am in collage and we are approaching finals so I can't promise exactly ****_when _****but I WILL Update my other open fic by Christmas and this one will be followed by a sequel which will be about Reid and Maeve having kids. So until next time! Bye guys!**


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